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To celebrate our 700th article, we’re launching a new legal digest in collaboration with construction lawyer Najma Dunnett.
Najma has practised both contentious and non-contentious construction and commercial law in private practice as well as in-house for an international firm of architects and for an architects’ insurance mutual company. She will be posting a new article every week, keeping you up to date with what’s going on in the legal world, what significant cases have passed through the courts and what the implications are for practitioners.
She’s kicking off with the recent case of Hunt v Optima which relates to defects and the issuing of certificates and will have implications for architects’ appointments and professional indemnity insurance.
“This case is significant for architects in terms of the nature of their appointments and the particular services they have agreed to undertake for their employer. It will also have significance for architects’ professional indemnity insurers and the RIBA in terms of issuing guidance on the nature and wording of certificates, including Council of Mortgage Lenders’ certificates and the potential risks in issuing certificates without due care. Where there is doubt whether defective works have been remedied the option of withholding or qualifying certificates and limiting the number of recipients should be carefully considered rather than issuing unqualified certificates as here.”
Najma’s practice N Dunnett Consulting provides legal advice to contractors, architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers and other consultants on their terms of appointment as well as offering advice on building contract terms and risk management, training and compliance services.